京都私設情報局 一番見えない横顔 1 of 2

Again from Vol 0. I should probably note that generally speaking I will not translate Ghost Hunt doujinshi because I write GH FFs myself. The one exception to that rule (I might have two...) would be Ono Fuyumi's doujinshi (the other possible exception would be Inada Shiho's). The SSs in 京都私設情報局 were later compiled into another doujinshi compilation called 中庭同盟 by Ono Fuyumi's helper 猫猫組 (who also helped with the pamphlets). There's one or two other SSs in 中庭同盟, but unfortunately, without a lot of luck and ~$3000+, 中庭同盟 is very difficult to get hold of.

Warning: Please use a magnifying glass for the following. [This is literally written at the top of the page, and looking at the text, it's easy to see why. >.> -Shadow ]

"Ayako said she'll come."

"Huh, that's unexpected."

"Unexpected? Why?"

"Matsuzaki-san has an 'if a car isn't sent to pick her up, she won't come' sort of feel to her, doesn't she?"

"Nope, nope. --What's this shounen, you mean you had that image of Ayako, huh."

"I think it's accurate. Don't you, Brown-san?"

"I wonder"

"Maybe not? --In that case, are we changing venues?"

"Changing? Why? We just got here."

"You don't mean you invited her to th-this yakitori place?"

"That's right"

"You've got nerve. Isn't she going to complain."

"It's okay, it's okay. She just complains and that's the end of it."

"You're very close."

"Really? --Ah, miss, we have another person coming."

"Okay."

"Normally, don't you consider the 'where' when you invite a woman out?"

"What're you going to do thinking about that sort of thing with her?"

"You really are close?"

"Not really-. In her case, all that matters is that the place serves alcohol. After all, she'll even come to a yatai (outdoor food stall), right."

"True."

"Do you go out drinking with Matsuzaki-san often then Takigawa-san? That's not cheap."

"We do. --Right, John?"

"Yes. Lately, it's usually the three of us."

"'Lately', which means before it was the two of you--?"

"Wha~t's with the weird smile? Before it really was the two of us. John and I."

"Ah, you really are close. --But Taniyama-san was depressed wondering if we really were work colleagues."

"We are colleagues."

"Not in that sense."

"Takigawa-san often picks us up or drops us off in his car."

"That's right. --After all, it's not like we can invite Mai out drinking. We've never invited Masako-chan out either."

"Well, yeah, but..."

"I'm not such a bad old guy as to be taking minors out to pubs."

"I'm also a minor--?"

"I wouldn't have invited you if I thought you'd say that sort of thing."

"That's mean. I'm not interested in drinking, but I like eating out."

"No doubt. Not to mention I don't like having women around when drinking."

"What about Matsuzaki-san?"

"Just what about her's a woman?"

"Ehh? But she's beautiful."

"That's true on the outside. I'm talking about inside."

"I think she's plenty feminine on the inside, both in a good and bad sense."

"I can't believe you said it. --Well, I thought so at first, too."

"Which means you don't think so anymore?"

"Like I said, quit with that weird smile. --Ayako's comfortable. She doesn't have that devious female side."

"Ah, now that you mention it, compared to most women, Matsuzaki-san doesn't hold grudges. She doesn't seem to be that concerned about all the harsh things Shibuya-san's said to her. Normally, a person wouldn't show up again after having all that said to them."

"Right. She's noisy, but she's only noisy."

"Hmm, I see."

"Who's noisy?"

"Ma-Matsuzaki-san."

"Hey"

"I came. --I really can't believe it. Would people normally invite a woman out to this sort of small, dingy yakitori shop?"

"A normal woman wouldn't show up in the first place."

"Will you quit talking as though I'm not a normal woman? --Ah, miss, I'll have some tsukune and zuri" [tsukune is ground chicken; not sure about the other one]

"And to drink?"

"Umm... you have Jouzen, eh? Jouzenjosui."

"Okay"

"......Despite her complaints, she's quite used to this sort of place."

"......Y'see?"

"What're you guys whispering about over there?"

"N-no, nothing."

"Bad things."

"--I thought monks weren't supposed to drink-?"

"Huh. You don't know about Tsumamuki no Sake; a product Mt. Koya's famous for?"

"A-ah, that. That's a bit lacking."

"I agree."

"You're quite the heavy drinker, aren't you, Matsuzaki-san?"

"My, only as much as is proper."

"Since when did 5 go become 'proper'?" [1 go ~0.18L; 5 go ~0.9L]

"You drink that much?!"

"She's a heavy drinker."

"Considering how much of a boozer you are, you're the last person I want saying that about me."

"They drink at a fast pace, too, so you should be careful Yasuhara-san. It'd be bad getting caught up in their pace."

"I see."

"You're quite strong with alcohol too, John."

"I think that's a metabolic difference between Caucasians and Japanese people..."

"You're being too modest. --Miss, another~. This time, make it Hatsuhinode Daiginjou"

"Okay"

"--Hey, has anyone gone to Shibuya recently?"

"I went by the other day."

"Is the office open yet?"

"From what I saw when I went by, it was still closed."

"Apparently, it'll be open starting next week. Mai-san told me that when I called her a couple of days ago."

"Ah, you phoned her, John."

"Yes. ......Mai-san's been down lately......"

"I see... It can't be helped though."

"Jeez... I hate seeing her so depressed."

"Yeah."

"......It could be that if she heard we went out like this that she'll get more depressed."

"Hmmm...... maybe."

"Really? I'd think it wouldn't bother Taniyama-san?"

"Aah. You weren't there that time, were you, Yasuhara-san?"

"'That time'?"

"In Nagano. I think it was when they were going out to get supplies that Mai-san said it - that maybe we really didn't know each another. After all, we didn't know each other's phone number or address."

"She meant us? Not Shibuya-san?"

"I think she meant it both ways."

"I think we really screwed up there..."

"Hmm."

"Mai doesn't tend to stick her nose into other people's personal lives, right?"

"She doesn't. We almost never talk about that sort of thing."

"I thought she was the type that didn't like that sort of thing. After all, there are some people who hate give-and-take relationships."

"Taniyama-san's gone through a number of things, so maybe she hates having people pry about things? And maybe that's why she doesn't pry into other people's private lives..."

"That's what you'd think, right? That's why I tried not to touch on anything like that. Especially when she didn't particularly ask about how to reach us. You'd think that meant she didn't want you asking for her phone number either, right?"

"You mean it didn't?"

"Apparenty, she felt pretty lonesome about that."

"......I-I see."

"Mai's actually very much the lonely type. I guess it can't be helped if you think about her situation."

"True."

"Because she's so lonesome, there might be a very pessimistic side to her. She's really bad at getting spoiled."

"That's true"

"In any case, she's very happy, and energetic, and probably has lots of friends. She gets along really well with o-Taka-san for example. If you consider her personality, she's probably very popular."

"She's probably quite popular."

"Yeah. So, from our point of view, you'd think that rather than hang around with older folks like us, she'd probably have more fun hanging out with friends her own age, right? After all, she probably has lots of other friends."

"You would think that."

"Despite that, apparently that's not enough. Apparently, she feels lonely if she's not really close with the people around her. Although I only realised this recently."

"I see......"

"In that case, maybe I'll invite her to the amusement park next time."

"Ah, that sounds like a good idea."

"I wonder if it'd be okay"

"Huh?"

"Well, to ask her out so easily like that. She's a starving student after all. She goes to school, has a part-time job, and no doubt she needs to study too. Since she gets a scholarship, her marks can't be that bad, right?"

"That's why I kept from asking before. But in Mai's case, I think she'd have been really happy just to have been invited, regardless of whether we actually went or not."

"Ah, I see."

"In any case, I think we should make a point of dropping by once the office opens."

"You're right."

"Well, we're counting on you, shounen."

"Me?"

"Yeah. You're working there part-time, right?"

"Oh? Is that true, Yasuhara-kun?"

"Yeah. Takahashi-san's got exam studies and will be dropping work, so I'm taking her place."

"I see. Do spend some time with her."

"I'm more than happy to do so, but isn't that beside the point really?"

"Beside the point?"

"The reason Taniyama-san's been depressed lately is because Shibuya-san's returned home for the time being, right?"

"Probably."

"No doubt."

"Yeah......"

"--You know something, don't you, Ayako?"

"Ummm... well, yeah."

"Go on, tell."

"Ahahah......"

"I said tell. Seeing her depressed gets me down."

[to be continued later]

The one problem with this story (other than the extremely small text and not great copy quality) is that Ayako keeps ordering sake and I have no idea what the names of these sake are so I'm struggling to look them up. >.> Hopefully the second page won't take as long to translate. ^^;

Actually, I've been drowning in doujinshi. ^^;; Just when I think I've worked my way through most of them another shipment lands on me, and I find myself drowning again. I have to admit, it's a definite shame most folks can't read the things I've been reading.

I told you a little about Caramel Ribbon's Once Upon a Time, didn't I? It was *so* sweet. Poor Lin-san was having a horrible time dealing with the 'reality' of having summoned Dragonwell tea's tea princess, but the scene at the SPR lab when they discovered Naru could also see her... ^o^

Lin summoned her? How did that happen? Damnation I wish I could read the Kanji so badly!

*laughs* Well I can give you the summoning scene:

Once Upon a Time - The Beginning of the Fairy Tale

A white tea cup.With the magic of the golden moon,and a single, slow stir of a silver spoon......

And so the tale begins.

Act 1

......It was a momentary lapse.Regardless how tired he was, for him to add sugar to his tea......

"I'm the tea princess of dragonwell tea! I grant you but three wishes. What is your wish, master?"

"........................"

Late teatime on a moonlit night.

Lin's thoughts froze for some time at the sight of a small something suddenly appearing from the edge of his teacup.

'......Just what is this?'

It would be normal to think you were dreaming. It was the middle of the night when there was nothing to interfere with doing work. And while it would be unusual, it wasn't impossible for him to just happen to fall asleep while doing so. Not to mention, he did feel like he'd been working too much lately, so perhaps it couldn't be helped... although the steam rising from the cup seemed all too real.

At least, it would be nothing compared to the small doll-like thing next to the cup smiling at him.

"......I must be dreaming."

Lin thought that was even more unusual as he closed his eyes. 'I must be tired. ......But to try sleeping while already dreaming is a bit strange,' he thought when he felt something land on his head.

"What are you doing sleeping?! Don't ignore me!"

".................."

"People always think they're dreaming when things don't go the way they want!" the thing said angrily as it jumped from Lin's head.

"Please open your eyes! Look at me!"

".................."

'This is a dream,' Lin thought to himself again before slowly opening his eyes.

The thing which had apparently moved from the top of his head smiled at Lin as it hovered in front of him. "I'm the tea princess of dragonwell tea! I grant you but three wishes. What is your wish, master?" it asked again.

"........................"

Lin sighed deeply.

"This really is a dream, isn't it?" he asked the 'tea princess' hovering before him seriously.

******

Hey! Did you see that FC2 has an English version of their blog, now?

I did. ^_^ Apparently, it's not quite as fully featured as the regular J blog, but they'll be adding more of the regular features to it over time. I was thinking I should take a look at the English version more but haven't gotten around to it yet. ^^;

*laughs* Fairy is probably closer as she's palm-sized. ^^; The story begins ~1 week before Naru and Lin go to Japan.

Lin starts realising it's not a dream and feels very tired and gets a headache.

T: Are you alright?! Do you have a fever?!L: ......I'm fine.T: Could it be because you haven't had breakfast?L: ......What's that supposed to mean?T: Breakfast's an important start to one's day!

Miso soup and rice are delicious and adding (Japanese) pickles makes it perfect. (Apparently her previous master taught her some strange things...)

T: But... What are miso soup, rice, and pickles?

Naru sees Lin with the tea princess at the lab... ^o^ :

N: I didn't know you liked playing with dolls, Lin.L: I don't!T: Hey! I'm not a doll!

or

T: I'm not a doll! I'm the dragonwell tea princess!N: As far as I knew, most dolls don't speak.T: I said I'm not a doll, you moron!N: It's a very annoying doll.

Naru plucks her up as she's eating a cookie after Lin tells him that she's the dragonwell tea princess

T: Kyaaaaaa!N: Shut upL: N-NaruT: What're you doing?!N: It would've been better to say it was some sort of trick.T: He's gonna eat me! He's gonna eat me! Master!N: Who's going to eat you?T: Meanie! Sadist!N: Shut up. Boy, you've got a bad mouth. You're supposed to be a princess even if it's only in name, so shouldn't you at least speak like one?T: I make a clear distinction between those deserving of respect and those who aren't.N: I see. In that case I'll call you as I see fit, shrimp.T: I'm not a shrimp!N: In that case, midget?T: Waaaah! Masterrrr!

Lin then realises Naru can see the tea princess. Normally, the only people who can see tea princes/princesses are those who've had dealings with them in the past, the one who summoned them, or anyone who was in the room when they're summoned. In Naru's case, the tea princess says that sometimes those who are closely attuned might also be able to see them. But it must be some sort of mistake for her to be on the same wavelength as Naru. Even though he looked exactly like her previous master, Naru was definitely a different person, and there was no way he could possibly be on the same wavelength as someone as kind as her previous master.

L: ......Naru looks... exactly the same... as your previous master?T: Naru? 'Naru' comes from narcissist, doesn't it? He looks like he's so sure of himself that he probably is one!N: Shut up, shrimp.T I'm not a shrimp! I'm called Dragonwell!N: That's the name of a tea and not your name, right?

This ends up making her cry as Naru just said the exact same thing as her previous master did. And it slowly comes out that her previous master had been in Japan and that she ended up returning to the land of tea before she finished fulfilling his three wishes. Only two things can make that happen: either the king calls her back, or the person who summoned her dies.

While Naru absorbs that piece of information, the tea princess tells Lin that for his second wish, she'll help them look for Gene's body when they go to Japan. As she's not very good at magic, she needs to be close to where his body is in order to be able to find it.

And at the end of this part:N: Hey, shrimp.T: I sa~id--!N: What did he call you?T: Eh?N: He didn't call you dragonwell, did he?T: But I don't have a name.N: You must have a name.T: It's sealed away until I'm no longer a tea princess, so I don't remember it.N: Then what did he call you?T: My previous master gave me a name; will my new master also give me one?

Unfortunately, for her, Lin looks away uncomfortable with the idea of thinking of a name for her, so she tells Naru to either call her Dragonwell or Crimson Plum.

N: You haven't answered my question, shrimp.T: You're not my master.

The tea princess has no intention of telling Naru what Gene called her despite his telling her that it was in her own best interest to do so. Eventually, Lin asks her what Gene called her, and she tells him that Gene's name for her carried the meaning of 'my tea princess'. He called her 'Mai'.

The tea princess has no intention of telling Naru what Gene called her despite his telling her that it was in her own best interest to do so. Eventually, Lin asks her what Gene called her, and she tells him that Gene's name for her carried the meaning of 'my tea princess'. He called her 'Mai'.

As in, find Mai, maybe?

How funny! I love the exchange between Naru and Dragonwell! You must have been rolling with laughter!

I have to say, though, it is creepy that she lectured Lin about breakfast. And wasn't it nighttime when he accidentally summoned her?

Gene's naming is literally Mai = my for 'my tea princess' since he's her master until she fulfills his three wishes. Gene's actual naming of the tea princess is in the third part to the story. FWIW, part three is made of three side stories including how she and Gene met (Gene apparently was the fastest one to recover from the shock of having her appear, getting over it in 30s flat), Lin finding a bed for her, and her and Naru in the airport while Lin goes to the bathroom.

The first parts are absolutely hilarious, especially with the constant fighting between Naru and the tea princess. It's also really funny watching Lin get flustered whenever he or Naru says anything that makes her sad or cry. Lin then usually bribes her with candies or sweets to get her to cheer up again. ^^;

I have to say, though, it is creepy that she lectured Lin about breakfast. And wasn't it nighttime when he accidentally summoned her?

Ah, that happens the next morning. Lin goes to bed still mostly hoping that it's all a dream only to have her greet him when he gets up and slowly come to realise that it's all real. His first wish ends up being for her to get rid of his exhaustion (and headache?) using her magic. Somehow, I don't think the headache would've stayed away though!

Yes and no. It's an Inada Shiho doujinshi compared to one by Ono Fuyumi. This is the one that has the Lin x Naru scene in it. ^^;

From the Principia doujinshi description:匿名希望(京都府・自営業)さんは小野不由美さん御本人ではないかといわれています。

匿名希望(京都府・自営業)さん - is thought to be Ono Fuyumi herself.

Y4500 seems a bit low, but... *shrug* Sometimes you never know. I will admit, from what I've been seeing, Inada Shiho's doujinshi have been going from ~Y5000 lately, but some of that's also where the bidding's been set to start. So I'm not sure how much of that's reflective of where the bidding would actually go. ^^;

*laughs* I'm very curious about the whole thing, but that one scene has me all the more so! ^^; Like you, I'm thinking about waiting and seeing where things go in the next bit. ^^;

Borderline 1&2 up but 4500 start saw.

*laughs* Y3500, by Tatsu_shino IIRC. I take it you missed the auction that just ended for it tonight? :P Assuming nothing unexpected happens, it's mine. *eg* It's the continuation to Nightmare of Butterfly that Mona bought for me last year when she went to Comiket and goes from sort of NaruxMai to finally getting them together. ^o^ I'm really curious to see how things go because NoB ended with Naru asking Mai, "Can you tempt me?" Mai had no idea what he said and hesitantly answered, "イ、イエス". Poor girl has no idea what she's getting herself into... :P

:P How do you think I felt last summer when I read this and it was the end of the book?! *laughs* I didn't think I'd ever be able to find out how things continued afterwards. All I knew was that things were obviously going to go on from there at some point. ^^; (Seraphita/Rinko doesn't post her older doujinshi online as far as I'm aware, so it was a pretty cruel ending. ^^;; )

As it is, at least Naru was kind enough to tell Mai not to ask Yasuhara or any of the others what he'd said and to look it up in a dictionary herself. :P The sad thing with NoB is that it's a bit shy of 400 pages. Can you imagine trying to summarise that much text without it ending up being extremely superficial? >.> (Borderline's of a similar length, too, IIRC. Yikes! ^^; )

I have another shipment (last one for now) arriving later this week or maybe early next week. I've bought a pretty scary number of titles over the past couple of months. O_O;; As it is, I still haven't read 5 of the books, and still have to finish 5 others. ^^; A good, long investigative story (like Seraphita's or Caramel Ribbon's) will usually take me a full night to read (unless it's a multi-volume story of course).

I wish GH would get another season. *sigh* Unfortunately, no such luck. >.>

BTW, I take it you've noticed there's a brand new seller that's put a bunch of stuff up. Nothing in there for you?

*laughs* Try this one ^^; Fortunately, I didn't learn about it from the doujinshi, but from her website. She put it online when she couldn't write for it for a long time offline. ^^; I have no idea how long it's been frozen in its current state. It has moved at least once from when I started watching, but... it's been some time. (I guess it's been so long that she doesn't mention on her site when it gets updated. ^^; )

I'm leary of new sellers... was one they have up was interested in.

I have to admit, this one I've been more leery of. I guess I automatically expect the usual apologies for being new etc. in the profile but there's none of that there. That and the first time they appeared the auction was set to expire in 1-2 days... Makes me want to wait more.

2 bids on Mad Scientist. Current bid must be a bidding service ID.

I'm still not so familiar with the bidding service folks so as to be able to ID them easily. Some are more obvious than others, but... >.> It'll be a bit of a waiting game I guess. ^^;

But a happy fangirl at least? :) Rapidly becoming a broke fangirl, but mostly happy. ^^; At least I've managed to read a number of Seraphita/Rinko doujinshi. :P Next will be Tenca's... *___*

(nah, just mostly curious about how compares to the novel and to understand the case they took on a little bit better)

I didn't really notice a heck of a lot being different between the two. Just minor things because of the different media. (Mind you, I wasn't paying a huge amount of attention to the pacing or anything. ^^; ) *checks* Ha! I do know where v10 is. I have a very bad tendency to misplace things sometimes. ^^;;

Boderline 1&2 CHEAP start price noticed today... And also had 1-2 Seraphita (don't know if you need) Mad Scientist has crept higher and one feedback shows she paid 10500 for one GH djn ... so bidding on this going to be steep now...

When I see lots of anime series one after another in feedback I'm inclined to think it belongs to a bidding service (definitely some IDs more obvious than others).

I didn't really notice a heck of a lot being different between the two. Yatta! Doomo.

*laughs* Yeah I noticed the latest Borderline auction. I actually had the option of cancelling the Borderline auction I just won, but decided to go ahead with the transaction rather than going through another bid for the thing. It'll be interesting to see how that one develops (as well as Girl that's currently up for Y200). Yeah, I noticed the latest bidder; s/he's only bid on Inada Shiho auctions?? Yikes. >.> Will have to think about whether I'll still try for it or not.

About the only Seraphita that's currently up for auction that I might be interested in is Eternal Brothers. Haven't fully decided yet, but... *sigh* There's one other book by that seller that I'm currently debating, so it's a possibility. ^^; (FWIW, I'm still missing 5 Seraphita books and 2 High*Risk ones [joint doujinshi between her and Tenca]. Apparently, she's put out some pamphlets, but they're not listed on her site, so it's a bit hit or miss whether I'd notice them or not. ^^; )

BTW, did you notice <href="http://page6.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/f63451330">this</a> auction? >.> As much as I'd love to read it, I don't think I can justify that price to buy it. ^^;;

I got a box today. The one Hiro bidded on was in it. THe spine in the upper part has a nasty pinch/kink in it. I don't know if he got it that way or happened in transit (Box was all doujinshi, couple magazines and padded so doubtful) ~_~

GH I got in I won from the seller you're pondering to bid or not. No time to look at tonight though.

Wow, looks like you're doing well to get the ones you want (most)

BTW, did you notice No, it's posted in novel section instead of doujinshi. Mention of an interview was about all I understood. Don't think the current high bidder on Mad Scientist would even take a crack at that one ^^